The Molecular Core will provide several critical services to promote research in drug abuse research. First, we provide a wide range of vector design, construction, and expression services to investigators who need to study the function of a given gene product. This includes epitope-tagged vectors to monitor protein trafficking, or to assess protein-protein interactions. We also provide viral transduction vector design and construction for those investigators who are interested in expression of genes in either primary cells or a cell line. We also provide a wide variety of services for those investigators who are interested in studying the regulation of gene expression. This includes assessment of transcription regulation at the level of gene promoter mapping and function, as well as measurement of mRNA expression by a variety of techniques including quantitative RT-PCR, northern blot analysis, and RNase protection analysis. Finally, we provide genotyping services to the Animal Core, a service which is critical for those strains that must be maintained by breeding heterozygous breeding pairs. In summary, our services are extremely helpful to investigators who are either experienced or inexperienced in molecular biology. It is also apparent that our Core has served to promote interactions and build collaborations between investigators with interests in drug abuse research.